Opposition parties, which hold just two of parliament's 83 seats, also complained about a new electoral map with more five- and six-seat wards that will tax their cash and candidates.

In Singapore's version of the "first past the post" system, the party winning the vote in a super-ward takes all the seats.

The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) manifesto, unveiled a week after a S$11.3 billion ($6.2 billion) stimulus package to help the recession-hit economy, stressed the government's ability to deliver stability in uncertain times.

"I ask you to vote for me, my PAP team and our programme for you," Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in a letter to the city state's two million voters. "Place your trust in us again to take Singapore safely into the future."

Opposition parties often complain the system is unfair but have long had problems mounting a credible challenge to a government that has delivered vast improvements to Singapore's standard of living over the past 36 years.

"UNDERHANDED TACTICS"

The PAP, which has dominated politics since independence in 1965 and stands little chance of losing many seats, was widely expected to go to the polls before the August 2002 deadline.

"This is going to be one of the tamest, most boring election campaigns," said Najeeb Jarhom, director at Fraser-AMMB Research.

"Because everybody is worried about jobs and bread-and-butter issues, I don't think rallies will be well attended."

Singapore's economy grew a blazing 9.9 percent in 2000 but sank into recession in the second quarter, brought on by slumping electronics demand and the ill health of key trading partners.

The 17-day gap between Thursday's election call and polling day on November 3 is the shortest on record, leaving opposition parties fuming as they scramble to target any PAP weakness in the new wards and avoid cannibalising each other's votes.

"They are afraid of losing and cannot afford to lose," said Steve Chia, whose National Solidarity Party is a member of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) pooling resources against the PAP. "That's why they are using such underhanded tactics by not giving the opposition any preparation time."

The SDA groups four of Singapore's 22 opposition parties. But two of the biggest -- the Workers' Party and the Singapore Democratic Party -- declined to join the alliance formed in late July with the aim of battling the PAP in larger wards.

Goh, dismissing complaints about the new boundaries, said the PAP could easily take the two opposition single-seat wards but would rather use them as training grounds for new candidates.

"I can tell you that in some constituencies, we are not trying very hard," Goh told Singapore media at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai late on Thursday.

EDUCATION AND ECONOMY

The government said more super-wards and the expansion of parliament to 84 seats were needed to account for a rise in the number of voters and changes in where they live.

Opposition candidates contested fewer than half the seats in the previous two elections. But they object to the idea that the PAP could hold 81 of 83 seats in the just-dissolved parliament when it won 65 percent of the vote in the 1997 poll.

In its manifesto, the PAP said it would raising spending on education to 4.5 percent of gross domestic product from 3.6 percent and diversify its manufacturing base areas such as information technology, biomedical sciences and healthcare.